The Power of the Fifth
by angeld34
Summary: The Charmed Ones learn the rest about their family, including a destiny nobody could foresee. Please R/R.
1. The beginning

The Power of the Fifth  
  
Chapter 1  
  
"Phoebe!" Piper screamed, walking out of the bedroom that she shared with her husband, Leo.  
  
"I'm down here, what's the crisis?" Phoebe retorted from the kitchen where she was making her breakfast. Usually the two sisters got along well with each other, today however, was not the best day in the Halliwell house.  
  
"Where's Prue's diamond necklace?" Piper yelled back. "I asked you to put it back when you got home from your date last weekend!"  
  
Suddenly Paige walked out of her room, her face obviously upset that she had been woken up by the yelling between her two older sisters. "What the hell is going on between you two."  
  
Standing closer to Paige than Phoebe was, Piper whispered, "I need to wear Prue's diamond necklace today, and Phoebe didn't return it like she said she would the last time she wore it."  
  
"Sure blame it all on me!" Phoebe screamed back as she started to eat. She actually hadn't heard what Piper had been saying to their youngest sister, but she knew, whatever it was, that Piper had been blaming her for it.  
  
"Okay, I'm not getting in the middle of this. I don't want to, and therefore I won't." Paige muttered and she walked downstairs, first through the living room, and then into the kitchen. As she opened the refrigerator door a thought suddenly popped into her head, "Oh crap! My laundry!"  
  
A swirl of blue lights surrounded Paige as she orbed down to the basement where the washer and dryer were in the Manor. She started humming as she pulled her clothes out of the dryer and began folding it up. As she finished she grabbed a hold of the basket and began to orb herself upstairs, but she was suddenly grabbed by someone.  
  
"Aaack!" She screamed and dropped her clothes.  
  
"Shut up, Paige!" A voice whispered in her ear, and she suddenly realized that it was Cole, Phoebe's boyfriend.  
  
"What is going on here?" Paige asked, however, her question was more in the form of a demand.  
  
"What, you've missed the yelling that's been going on, off and on all week?" Leo asked.  
  
"No, but I still don't see why my two brothers are cowering in the basement." Paige insisted.  
  
"You think of me as a brother?" Cole asked with a slight smile on his face.  
  
"Well yeah, I mean, Leo, you're married to Piper, and you live in her bedroom with her, and Cole, you may not be married to Phoebe, but I know you're in love, and that you live here too. And I know that, at the most, technically, you'll only be my brothers-in-law, but I feel like you're my brothers." Paige explained.  
  
"Anyway," Leo said, to get back to the reason they were in the basement, "It's been one year today."  
  
Paige didn't need Leo to explain what was one year ago today. She knew it was the first anniversary of the death of Prue.  
  
"Piper wants to wear Prue's diamond necklace. The necklace has gone down through the family to the oldest daughter for as long as anyone can remember."  
  
"Grams gave it to their Mom. When she died Grams gave it to Prue for her high school graduation." Cole added.  
  
"Well, now that Prue's gone Piper and Phoebe decided that they would share the necklace, but that Piper would keep it, since she's now the oldest."  
  
"So Phoebe borrowed it for our special weekend."  
  
"But she didn't return it, so Piper's got upset. She thinks she needs to wear it today because she's unsure if she's going to be able to make it through the day, considering how close she and Prue were."  
  
"Phoebe did return it!" Cole insisted.  
  
"And that's why it's nowhere in our room?" Leo retorted.  
  
"Okay, that's it!" Paige ordered. She orbed out of the basement and was promptly followed by Leo who grabbed Cole's hand and orbed upstairs, to wherever Paige orbed to.  
  
"Piper." Page demanded, and suddenly Piper appeared.  
  
"Hey, that's not fair! You can't just use your powers on me!" Piper insisted.  
  
"Phoebe." The scene was nearly exactly the same, with the exception that it was Phoebe resisting, instead of Piper.  
  
"Prue's Diamond Necklace." Paige held out her hand as she said this, and this time the necklace appeared in her hand. "Here's the necklace, now will you two please start acting like the sisters that I know, instead of the imposters you've been for the last week?"  
  
"You're right," Piper relented, as Phoebe nodded.  
  
"I'm sorry, Pipe, I just don't know what's gotten into me lately."  
  
"Well, Pheebs, it's been a rough week for all of us." Piper responded. As she and Phoebe embraced, they heard a loud crash come from upstairs.  
  
"You guys keep doing the sisterly-making-up thing, I'll see what that was." Paige mentioned as she ran up the stairs. A quick sweep of the second floor of the Manor revealed that nothing was out of order so she began walking the steps to the attic, knowing that whatever it was that had happened it must have been magic-related. The only thing worth anything in the attic was the Book of Shadows.  
  
Upon entering the attic, Paige very clearly saw a woman standing and looking through the Book of Shadows. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"  
  
When it became apparent that the woman was not going to answer the question Paige yelled down to her sisters, "Get up here, there's someone in the attic!"  
  
Paige could hear her sisters and their loves running up the stairs, yet the woman continued to ignore Paige, simply flipping the pages of the Book of Shadows.  
  
As soon as Piper ran into the room she held her hands up and froze everything. She looked to her sides and saw that her husband and Cole were frozen in time. As the Charmed Ones looked at the woman, they realized she was still flipping through the pages of their Book.  
  
"She's definitely not frozen!" Phoebe whispered to Piper.  
  
"Thank you for pointing out the obvious. I can see that!" Piper replied.  
  
"It's like she doesn't even hear us, the entire time we've been talking, she's completely ignoring us!" Paige added.  
  
Suddenly the woman looked up, and the sisters could see the surprise in her blue eyes. She took a second look at the page in front of her, and then disappeared.  
  
"Hey, what's going on?" Leo asked, as he and Cole unfroze.  
  
"The woman who was here, standing by the book of Shadows, didn't freeze when everything else did." Piper said.  
  
"And then she just disappeared. Which is weird, I have never seen anyone just disappear like that before. I mean, she didn't blink out, or orb out, she just kind of disappeared. Is that possible?" Page asked, obviously confused about the whole thing. She had been a witch for nearly a year, but she still found some aspects of it confusing.  
  
"Actually, she kind of looked like Prue did when she was astral projecting." Phoebe mentioned. "I mean that was the way Prue used to disappear when she was going back to her body."  
  
"You're right." Piper nodded, showing her agreement with what Phoebe was saying.  
  
"So what, does that mean she's a witch, or is she a warlock? I mean, I would think that if some nice good witch wanted to look through the Book of Shadows, she would ask. Right?" Paige asked.  
  
"So, what we have to do is find out why she was here. And who she is." Piper said, "Like I really thought we could go through today without anything magic related."  
  
"Piper, it's going to be okay." Leo said as he rubbed her back.  
  
"So how do we go about finding her? We don't know what she is, is she a witch, a demon, a warlock? Is she good or bad?" Paige asked looking at both her sisters for the answer.  
  
"If she's a witch she's good, if she's one of the others she's bad. See how that goes." Cole said to her.  
  
"I got that!" Paige responded, her eyes flashing in anger.  
  
"Well, why don't we assume, for now at least, that's she's good. We could probably say the lost witch spell. I would rather she be a witch then a warlock, and we need to start somewhere." Phoebe said going over to the Book of Shadows. "We should also figure out what she was trying to find."  
  
"Except, I think that we interrupted her. I doubt she was actually able to find whatever it was that she was looking for." Paige replied. "She looked really surprised when she finally realized that we were in the room."  
  
"Let me find out if They know anything up there. I'll be back soon." Leo murmured as he pulled Piper into a hug and kissed her head for a second, taking the time to make sure that she was going to be all right. Then he orbed out of the attic.  
  
"Phoebe, do you need me to stay here?" Cole asked as he walked closer to where Phoebe had moved.  
  
"No, are you trying to leave, or something?" Phoebe's smile showed that she was joking with Cole.  
  
"I just want to see if I can find anything out on the streets...and yes, I'll be careful, I still know people out there, I can't do as much as I used to, but I still want to help." Cole had already override Phoebe's objection before she could even get the words out of her mouth.  
  
"Okay, but don't take any chances." She demanded.  
  
"I won't. Love you." Cole said as he bent and kissed her. The kiss was a simple one, one that showed affection.  
  
"So, where do you guys want to start?" Piper said, taking the initiative to act on what they had just been talking about.  
  
TBC 


	2. Confrontations

The Power of the Fifth  
  
Chapter 2  
  
"Okay, well let's see what she was looking at in the Book of Shadows." Phoebe mentioned as she looked at the last page the woman was looking at. As she touched the page, she gasped at the images she saw.  
  
"What, what is it?" Piper asked.  
  
"What did you see, are you okay?" Paige added, sitting down on a chair that must have fallen when the woman came into the attic.  
  
"The woman...she was fighting Kells." Phoebe said, trying to catch her breath from the images.  
  
"Kells? Why is she fighting him?" Paige's confusion was evident on her face.  
  
The Charmed Ones had fought Kells several months before, but they had no idea how to vanquish him. Actually, they knew how, but they hadn't been able to figure out how to do it. It required deflecting his own power balls. The only problem was that they had no idea how to do it. They had tried everything they could think of, but they were unable to do it. Paige's powers were ineffective against him, they had tried mirrors and metal, but nothing had worked.  
  
They had, unfortunately, lost their innocent, the first one Paige had ever lost. But, they hadn't lost their lives, and they had walked away with a sense of determination, that whenever they figured out how to defeat Kells, they would find him and defeat him.  
  
"No clue. I only get sight, not explanations in my visions." Phoebe reminded Paige.  
  
"So, guess that means she's not a warlock, right?" Paige asked, looking between her two sisters.  
  
"Well we don't now that, it just means that she doesn't like Kells." Phoebe mentioned.  
  
"Or that he doesn't like her." Piper responded. "Could you see where they were fighting?"  
  
"No. It just looked like any regular old alley in San Francisco. It was night, though. It was really dark. And I think it was tonight, because she was wearing the same clothes that she was here." Phoebe explained.  
  
"Are we even sure she's here? In this city? We have no clue who she is, or how powerful she is, maybe she's on the other side of the planet?" Paige mentioned. She had a knack for mentioning the truth, no matter how much the sisters wanted to ignore.  
  
"She does have a point. Why don't you look through the rest of the book, see if you get any more visions. And I think we can safely say that she's on our side. I doubt Phoebe would have gotten a vision about her, if we weren't supposed to help, or if we weren't supposed to meet her. And I really doubt that we're supposed to be helping Kells." Piper said. "I'm gonna go downstairs and get something to eat, I still have to go to P3 this afternoon to settle the books."  
  
"What about the girl?" Phoebe said, momentarily looking up from the Book of Shadows.  
  
"Well, I'll be done way before dark, and if you want, if we know where we're going, you guys can meet me there, and we can go from the club." Piper said, as she started out of the room.  
  
Phoebe turned the Book of Shadows to the front and started to look through it from the beginning, when another vision struck her.  
  
"What, Phoebe, are you okay?" The concern was evident on Paige's face. Phoebe was literally hanging on to the stand that the Book of Shadows was on. It looked like if she hadn't been holding onto it, she would have been on the floor.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine." Phoebe said, her breathing returning to normal. "I just had another vision. Whoever she was, she's been here before. When I touched this first page, the one that explains about the Charmed Ones. I could see her here, in different clothes. I wonder how many times she been in here without us knowing?"  
  
"Do you want to sit down, in case you get another one? I know you don't usually have visions that close together." Paige responded.  
  
"No, I doubt...." Phoebe broke off as yet another vision hit her.  
  
"Phoebe!" Paige screamed it looked almost as if Phoebe was having a seizure. "Piper, get up here! Now!"  
  
"What?" Piper yelled as she came running in a few seconds later, only to see Phoebe, now lying still on the floor of the attic. "What happened?"  
  
"I don't know. She had another vision after you left; she looked like she was going to collapse, or something. I asked her if she wanted to sit, but she said she was fine. She kept looking through the book and then she started convulsing, well, it looked like she was having a seizure, and now she's doing this." Paige responded as they both tried to wake Phoebe up.  
  
"What was the second vision about?" Piper frantically asked with fear on her face. Phoebe had never gone through anything like this.  
  
"She said something about the girl having been in here before. But we have no clue how long she's been coming here, or how many times." Paige responded, "I think she's starting to wake up."  
  
"Uugh." Phoebe moaned as she tried to sit up. "Did anyone see the truck that hit me?"  
  
"Are you okay?" Piper asked as she helped her sister up.  
  
"Yeah, it was the weirdest thing." Phoebe muttered.  
  
"What?" Paige asked.  
  
"Well it was a vision. But it wasn't like any other visions I've had. It was as if I was inside of her. I couldn't control her body, but I could see through her eyes, and I could move them. I've figured out where the confrontation is going to take place." Phoebe told them.  
  
"Your powers are growing." Piper said quietly.  
  
"Well, where's it going to be?" Paige demanded. After nearly a year of being a witch, Paige was still impatient, sometimes, about fighting warlocks, and when was the right time to use their magic.  
  
"It's in the alley behind the store where we get all of our ingredients for our spells." Phoebe told them.  
  
"Great, come by P3 around 4, and we'll go there and stake it out." Piper said, laying out the plan. "I want to find out everything we can about her: why she's fighting Kells, is she definitely a witch, and whether or not we can trust her. We'll try going as long as possible without interacting, but when it becomes obvious that she needs help we'll get out there and help her."  
  
"But how are we going to help her. We can't do anything to Kells, other than freeze him, and that's certainly not going to defeat him." Paige reminded her.  
  
"Well, I don't think she read the whole page, I think we interrupted her." Phoebe said.  
  
"And maybe she has some powers that we don't. So maybe if we tell her how to defeat him, she'll have the ability to do it." Piper mentioned.  
  
"Okay, you get going to the club, we'll meet you there later." Phoebe said.  
  
"Are you sure you're okay?" Piper's face showed her concern. It was hard enough to have to deal with all this on the anniversary of her older sister's death, she didn't really want to lose any of her other sisters.  
  
"I'm fine. Go!" Phoebe said, as she pushed her sister towards the door out of the attic.  
  
Around 7 that night...  
  
"Okay, this is killing me." Paige complained. They had been crouching behind the boxes in the alley for the last three hours. She was beginning to think that she didn't like stakeouts. "Hey, did you hear from Cole?"  
  
"No," Phoebe responded. "Leo?"  
  
"No. I'm beginning to think this is a really big thing, though. Usually he's only gone for a long time when it is big." Piper said as she kept looking for the woman and Kells.  
  
"Finally, I thought they were never going to get here!" Paige muttered as she saw the woman.  
  
"Well, there she is, but where's Kells?" Phoebe whispered, shooting her younger sister evil glances that told her to stop complaining.  
  
"Kells!" The woman shouted. "Where are you!?"  
  
"Well, witch. Are you going to hand over your powers, or am I going to take my newfound ones and destroy everything in sight?" Kells responded as soon as he blinked into the alley.  
  
"I have a better idea. How `bout I vanquish your sorry ass, and I keep my powers?" She retorted.  
  
"No one in the last three hundred years has vanquished me, and I always end up with their powers, so I think that you're still going to be dead, and then I'm still going to destroy everything." The grin on Kells face showed how much he was going to enjoy killing the woman. An orangish-red light suddenly began to appear in his open hand.  
  
The Charmed Ones looked on as the light grew into some sort of ball.  
  
"What is that?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"It's not an energy ball. I don't think it's fair that he gets new powers and we don't." Piper murmured as she watched Kells throw whatever it was towards the woman. Suddenly she raised her hands and froze everything as the ball came closer to the woman. For a split second nobody moved, then the silence was broken.  
  
"What the hell are you people trying to do to me? Get me killed?" The woman yelled to them as she turned around, her eyes flashing with anger.  
  
"Well, actually we were trying to help." Phoebe responded.  
  
"She's not frozen, and she's really here. So we've absolutely established that she's good, right?" Paige asked, making sure that she had come to the correct conclusion.  
  
"Yes, I'm good." The woman retorted.  
  
"Okay, do you even know how to defeat this guy?" Piper asked.  
  
"Yes, his blasts, back at him. What's so hard about that? I really don't think I need the infamous Charmed Ones here for me to do that!"  
  
"Any clue how you're going to do that?" Phoebe asked, genuinely curious, she truly thought that this witch had no clue as to what she was doing. However, if the woman did know what she was doing, then at least they could find out what they had done wrong when they fought him.  
  
"Okay, this," she said as she moved her right hand over to the blast that was still hanging frozen in time and used telekinesis to throw it back to the wall. "Only towards him."  
  
"That won't work, I tried doing something similar to him, and the blasts just bounced right off." Paige countered.  
  
"Maybe that's because you're inexperienced!" Her annoyance with the three witches was becoming very obvious. Which actually surprised them; meeting the Charmed Ones awed most real witches.  
  
"Really, and how long have you been doing this?" Paige asked, becoming very annoyed with this woman.  
  
"My whole life."  
  
"Oh." Paige's response was very short. She really had no clue as to how old the woman was, but she looked to be around the same age as Paige. Which meant that she definitely had been doing this a lot longer than Paige's one year.  
  
"Look, will you just unfreeze him so I can get this over with and get out of here." She demanded.  
  
"Sure, why not?" Piper motioned as she unfroze the warlock.  
  
"Ah, the Charmed Ones. Now I can get four times the powers, and not even have to work all that hard." Kells threw another, less powerful blast towards the Charmed Ones. Phoebe and Piper were thrown to the woman's far left while Paige was thrown to her far right, putting quite a distance between the two older Charmed Ones and the younger. All three were stunned as they tried to get their bearings back and stand up to continue the fight.  
  
Kells prepared another energy blast in which the woman prepared to counter by getting ready to push the energy blast away when a shimmering-clear almost wall appeared in front of her.  
  
"Well, that's new. I wonder how that happened?" The woman muttered to herself as the energy blast hit the shimmery wall and dispersed into it.  
  
"If you're going to play that way..." Kells trailed off as he threw another blast towards Paige, who was just starting to get up.  
  
"No!" The woman yelled as she ran in front of Paige.  
  
The energy blast went into the woman, but it didn't kill her, as Kells thought it would. Instead it looked like the blast was completely absorbed by the woman, and then with a gasp it exited her body and hit Kells. He exploded in a fit full of fire and screams.  
  
"That's interesting." Phoebe said as she and Piper made it over to Paige's side.  
  
In that instant the woman's eyes rolled upwards and she collapsed. Because Paige was right behind her, she was able to catch her. "She not so awake any more." Paige's voice was lilting a little high, like she wasn't quite sure what had happened.  
  
"She saved your life." Piper said, looking up at Paige, "I think it's time we found out who she is and what's going on."  
  
TBC  
  
Please let me know what you think. 


	3. Explanations pt 1

The Power of the Fifth  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Four days later...  
  
"Any change?" Paige's voice could be heard from the entryway into the Manor. She walked into the front room, not surprised at the sight before her.  
  
"Nope." Phoebe was sitting in a chair reading another fashion magazine. The woman, they still had no idea who she was as she hadn't had any ID on her when they had fought Kells, was lying on the couch. In the same position she had been in for the last four days.  
  
"I'm wondering if I should make this my profession. Just sitting and watching an unconscious person all day. Not that hard." Phoebe was still having a hard time finding the perfect job. She knew exactly what she wanted to do, but every job she applied for she was faced with the same difficulties her family situations and a schedule that had no stability. The few jobs she was able to get, she was unable to keep, do to the same reasons she had such difficulty finding a job.  
  
Phoebe watched the woman. She looked about the same age as Paige, yet thinking back, over the few times that she had actually seen the girl, as well as in her visions, the woman seemed older, as well as younger. She had looked weary; as if she were so tired she could barely continue with...well the only thing Phoebe could think of was anything. However, at the same time there was some sort of a young essence surrounding the woman. She was thin, her height somewhere between Piper's and Paige's, her hair in what would be called a messy short bob, and only slightly darker than Piper's. And while her eyes were closed, Phoebe already knew that they were a grayish blue color.  
  
Paige's voice brought Phoebe out of her thoughts, "Oooh, Piper's home!" Paige's smile showed her delight, she could smell her older sister's cooking anywhere in the Manor. And while she often had plans of her own, whenever she knew that Piper was going to be making a big dinner, she made sure she was home. Piper's cooking was the most delicious thing she had ever tasted.  
  
"Hey, how'd work go?" Piper was stirring her spaghetti sauce with a spoon, and had lifted it to taste, when it suddenly disappeared in a flash of blue light. "Hey!"  
  
"What? I couldn't wait until you were done cooking, besides it's perfect." Paige replied, handing the spoon back.  
  
"Piper, Paige, get in here!" Phoebe's voice was heard from the front room, and both of her sisters ran into the room to see the woman beginning to wake up.  
  
She groaned as she began stretching out her body, the muscles protesting to being used after the previous inactivity of four days. Her eyes opened to the sight of the Charmed Ones staring at her curiously.  
  
"Do you mind?" She sat up at the comment and attempted to stand up. As she knew would happen, the room swayed in front of her and she sighed in defeat as she sat down.  
  
"Are you okay?" Paige asked, concern showing on her face.  
  
"Yeah, just dizzy, it'll go away." She said, grudgingly.  
  
"Okay. Who are you?" Piper said sitting down. She was sick of not know what was going on in her home.  
  
"My name is Peynn." The woman answered.  
  
"Like the writing implement?" Paige asked.  
  
"I don't know, are you Paige, as of a book?" She replied smartly, she obviously didn't want to give anymore of her information out.  
  
"Point taken." Paige responded.  
  
"Enough. Why have you been going through our Book, how long, and why didn't you come to us, instead of breaking in here, or using magic to get in here?" Phoebe demanded.  
  
"I needed access to certain spells that I knew were in the book. Six months, and the reason I didn't come to you was because I was trying to avoid this situation for as long as possible." Peynn's face once again showed annoyance.  
  
"Obviously you don't like us, why did you save my life?" Paige asked.  
  
Peynn mumbled something and looked away from the others, at that moment Leo orbed into the room.  
  
Piper walked over to Leo and gave him a small kiss. "Everything go okay?"  
  
"Yeah. Have you been able to get any information out of her?" Leo asked as they began walking back to the others in the room.  
  
"No. You know I don't understand why it is that the elders never know anything about anything when we have questions." Piper complained. "Okay, what did you just mumble?"  
  
"I said that I was repaying a debt to Paige." Peynn replied.  
  
"What debt? I've never seen you before in my life!" Paige exclaimed, confusion evident on her face.  
  
"Are you sure?" Peynn asked, looking Paige right in the eyes for a few seconds. "There are others who can answer your questions. And I won't. So don't ask me. I'd like to say that this was a pleasure. But, then I'd be lying. I'll be seeing you soon."  
  
"Wait, how did you defeat Kells?" Phoebe asked, "I've never seen anything like that, I mean, should you be dead. His blast hit you."  
  
"I'm not sure, the only thing I know..." Peynn started but was interrupted by Leo.  
  
"While I was up there they did tell me one thing. They said that when you stepped in front of Paige, and saved her life by taking the blast yourself, that it was your sacrifice which caused Kells' blast to, essentially, bounce off of you and hit and vanquish him." Leo stated.  
  
"Wow. Well, like I said, bye." Peynn said, as she turned and began walking out of the house.  
  
Piper, Phoebe, Paige looked at Peynn with a look of disbelief as she abruptly turned and uttered the words, "Oh, do you want me to ring the bell the next time I come to look at the Book, or should I just walk in?"  
  
"Excuse me?" Piper's fury made everyone, including her husband take one step away from her, yet Peynn stood her ground.  
  
"Well, I need those spells in that Book. We may not get along too great, but I am a witch, and those spells are helping me save innocents." Peynn said with a slight smile.  
  
"It's kind of hard to get along with someone with that kind of personality?" Phoebe retorted.  
  
"See you soon." Peynn said as she walked out of the room.  
  
"Who the hell does she think she is?" Piper asked her sisters.  
  
"Well, she does have a point." Leo began, nearly regretting it when his wife started giving him a glare, "She's a witch, and she is helping innocents, are you really going to refuse her the Book, and risk deaths?"  
  
"I kind of have to agree with Leo. I mean, she doesn't seem like the sort of person who would come here unless it was an absolute necessity." Paige mentioned  
  
"What did she mean by `there are others who can answer your questions'?" Piper asked.  
  
"And how do we find those people?" Phoebe added.  
  
"Is there a way to do some sort of spell?" Paige asked.  
  
"I don't see how. It's not like we can just bring anyone here. We'd have a really big problem trying to explain how they just appeared in our attic out of nowhere." Piper countered.  
  
"That, and how to get them not to expose our witch status." Phoebe mentioned.  
  
"Well, what about spirits?" Paige asked.  
  
"Well..." Phoebe trailed off as she started thinking about it.  
  
"That just might work. I mean the spell we use to call Grams and Mom to us; the spirit we want comes because we are thinking of them while we say the spell. We could just think of any spirit who would know or at least be able to shed some light on Peynn, and who she is." Piper said and it was obvious by the look on her face that the wheels were turning in her mind.  
  
"But we're going to have to be very, very specific. Or we may end up with a hundred spirits who know a little about Peynn, but no one who could tell us as much as possible." Phoebe mentioned.  
  
"Okay, so the three of us will say the spell, and when we do, we want to think of the one or two spirits who will know the most about Peynn, let's go." Piper semi-ordered.  
  
"Hey, what's going on?" Cole asked as he walked into the room.  
  
`Thank God, I've been so worried about you. If you hadn't been calling me, I probably would have called you here, and then killed you. Were you able to find anything?" Phoebe asked as she first hugged Cole and then smacked him alongside the arm to emphasize her point about worrying about him.  
  
"What I've found out is that a new witch appeared about six months ago. She's given some of the higher-level demons a run for their money. She protects innocents, but she also goes after them for no reason at all. As if she has nothing else to do. She'll be after a particular demon or warlock and then she'll disappear for days, sometimes she'll have vanquished whatever she was after, and sometimes not. Then she just reappears and goes after something else." Cole said, informing them of what he had been investigating for the last five days.  
  
"Kind of like Piper, and the Furies?" Paige asked.  
  
"I'm never going to live that down, am I?" Piper retorted.  
  
"Kind of, but without the anger that Piper had. It's as if she's doing it because she feels she has an obligation to hunt down the warlocks and the demons." Cole replied.  
  
"Okay, are you guys ready, remember, think about the one spirit who will be able to help answer as many of our questions as possible about Peynn." Piper said as they entered the attic.  
  
She and Paige went over to the Book of Shadows while Phoebe spread and lit the candles around the room.  
  
"Ready?" Piper asked her sisters.  
  
At their nod the Charmed Ones began the spell, "Here these words. Hear my cry spirit from the other side. Come to me, I summon thee. Cross now the Great Divide."  
  
Within seconds white lights formed the spirit that the Charmed Ones had called.  
  
"You have GOT to be kidding me!" Piper exclaimed.  
  
TBC  
  
Please let me know what you think, either review or e-mail me at angeld34@hotmail.com 


	4. The Flip Side

The Power of the Fifth  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Peynn closed the door with a slam as she walked into the tiny apartment. She arched her back as she tried to stretch out, when she suddenly noticed something.  
  
"Michael, where's the table?" She called out, noticing that all the furniture, which had really only been a few pieces were missing. The only thing remaining was the queen-sized mattress, which now lay on the floor a few feet away, which also happened to be the other side of the room.  
  
"Peynnance?" Michael's voice could be heard as he came out of the bathroom. "Where the hell have you been? It's almost been five days!"  
  
The anger in his voice was negated by the concern on his face. He grabbed her and pulled her into a large hug.  
  
"I'm sorry, I got this new power, and I passed out." She never really knew how to react when Michael showed affection towards her. He was the first person who had ever shown it to her. She finally let the breath out she had been holding and just waited until he let her go.  
  
"So? You've always been able to get home before. What happened this time? Ooh what power?" He asked, his eyes moving upwards, showing his curiosity.  
  
"You know, I'm glad that your concern goes so far. You just amaze me with your concern." The smile on Peynn's face showed her understanding of his reaction. "Maybe you should have been born with the powers, since you just love hearing about them so much."  
  
"Peynn, you know it scares me when you're gone, but you're here, and you're fine. So, tell me about the power." Michael demanded.  
  
She smiled at him for a moment before she responded, "I don't know, its some kind of deflecting shield thingy. It deflected an energy blast."  
  
"Okay, so why didn't you come home?"  
  
"Right after it happened, which I'm still a little confused about, I saw the demon throw a blast at Paige. So I kind of stepped in front of her and took the blast myself, right before I passed out."  
  
"Are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah, turns out that's the only way to kill that particular demon. Anyway, I'm fine, and the Charmed Ones are all fine, and at least I don't owe Paige anymore." Peynn said as she went and sat on the bed.  
  
"Really, because that's all it was. Something you owed Paige." Michael replied sounding unconvinced as he sat down next to her. "And it has nothing to do with the fact that she's--"  
  
"No." Peynn interrupted. "It has absolutely nothing to do with that. I owed her, now I don't."  
  
"Right, and the next time this happens, you're just gonna walk away?"  
  
"Right."  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
"Look Michael, I know you think that everyone is basically good. Money isn't everything, family is important. I know differently. I know the truth. I owed Paige Mathews my life. Now I don't. The next time a blast, or anything, heads for any of the Charmed Ones, if it's not in my best interest, I won't do anything." Peynn insisted, "Now, do we have anything to eat around here?"  
  
"No you wouldn't. Regardless of what you may believe, you are a good person. Peynn. I love you." Michael said as he pulled her over to him. Their blue eyes met momentarily, before her grayish ones looked away from his bright ones.  
  
"Yeah. Right." Peynn mentioned, looking away as she tried to get away from him.  
  
"I love you. I know that for some reason you feel that's impossible. But if you would let anyone know you, like I know you, that they would love you too. Hopefully not in the same way...but." He said smiling down at her. "And the Charmed Ones would feel the same way."  
  
"My mother handed me over to the first people she could, just to get rid of me. My `adopted family' shipped me off to a school a hundred miles away until two months before my eighteenth birthday where they changed my last name back to my birth name and kicked me out at 12:01 A.M. on my birthday. And let's not even mention Paul."  
  
"There is something seriously wrong with those Walkington's. And your mother took you all the way across the country."  
  
"Do I have to remind you how long it took for us to get from New York to San Francisco?" Peynn asked with a slight smile.  
  
"Fine, if you're just going to be that way..." Michael said walking away as he went to the cabinet to pull out some crackers.  
  
"You're nuts." Peynn said as she looked up to share a smile with him. "Speaking of which, where's the furniture?"  
  
"You mean the two chairs and the desk that we used as a crappy excuse for a table?"  
  
"Yes, the furniture."  
  
"I sold it." Michael said, trying to ignore her.  
  
"You sold it! Why?" Peynn demanded; pulling him away from the cheese and crackers he had been getting together.  
  
"I sold it to come up with half of the rent. I was going to sell the mattress, but I just couldn't bear to. I know you said you don't mind sleeping on the floor, but you do so much good, you deserve more." Michael told her. And it was only because she knew him so well that she knew he was being completely honest with her.  
  
However she chose to ignore the compliment, it was easier than dealing with thoughts and feelings she had no idea how to react to. "We were short half of the rent?"  
  
"No. We were short all of the rent. Now we're only short half of the rent."  
  
"What happened, I thought we were doing pretty well with the money situation. How could we be short all of the rent?"  
  
"It's not that big of a deal, I'm just going to ask the landlord if he'll give us a small extension on the remainder of the rent." Michael told her.  
  
"You know that won't work. That guy's an ass. He wouldn't do anything to help anyone out, unless of course they were offering him money. Now, why are we short on the rent? What happened?" Peynn asked, with a feeling that she just might have to drag this out of him.  
  
"I lost my job."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I got laid off. You know the economic state of the country. They just ended up laying off the newest employees, and since I'd only been there a year, I was gone." Michael told her.  
  
"How did I not know this? Am I that dense? How long have you been out of work?"  
  
"Three months, and no, you're not dense. But you have been gone almost all the time over the last few months, and when you were here, generally you were unconscious. And I've been spending all my time trying to find a new job. Its just there's really not much out there. The few things that are open, they've hired other people for." Michael responded, trying to tell her as gently as possible. She was always busy with magic and fighting demons and warlocks, and yet she still managed to feel guilty that she was living in the apartment for free.  
  
"I'm so sorry. I'm an awful friend. I should have noticed a lot sooner." Peynn mentioned. Reaching over and squeezing his hand for support, wanting him to know that she would do anything for him. "How on Earth have managed the last three months rent?"  
  
"It was just the last two, and I've been doing odd jobs, looking in vending machines to get change," At the look on her face Michael burst out laughing, "I'm just kidding, it was odd jobs."  
  
"I'm so, so sorry."  
  
"Don't worry about it. But, things are beginning to look better. I'm hearing that there are more and more companies that are going to beginning to look for new employees. I just haven't found anything yet."  
  
"You know, I haven't seen Jake or his gang for a while...I could probably get enough money for the next few months." Peynn mentioned.  
  
"Peynn, don't. We're going to be fine, you don't need to go to them. We don't need the money that bad." Michael countered.  
  
"It's not that big of a deal. And we do need the money." Peynn said, going over to the small closet and pulling out some clothing.  
  
"But we don't need it that bad. You selling your body isn't going to help anything." Michael insisted.  
  
"Its just sex. It's nothing important. And I have to do something to help us out every once in a while, I can't have a normal job, magic gets in the way of any chance of a normal job." Peynn called out as she went into the bathroom and closed the door.  
  
"You hate it! You always come back feeling awful, and I'd rather live out on the street than have you do what your doing!" Michael responded. For a few moments there was silence until Peynn walked out of the bathroom wearing some very revealing clothes.  
  
"I'm not willing to let you live out on the street. You pay more rent because I live here, buy more food, because I live here. I need to help you out. And it's not that big of a deal, most of the guys are over in a short time, they just want someone to make them feel good." Peynn told him.  
  
"Please don't go." Michael wanted to get down on his knees and beg her not to go, but he knew that once she made up her mind there was nothing she could do.  
  
"I'll be back in the morning." Peynn whispered, and then she ended the argument the way she always ended that particular argument, she disappeared in a swirl of blue lights.  
  
"Damn it!" Michael yelled, wishing he hadn't sold the furniture so he could have thrown something at the walls.  
  
TBC 


	5. Explanations pt 2

The Power of the Fifth  
  
Chapter 5  
  
"All right, which one of you didn't do what you were supposed to?" Piper demanded looking back and forth between her younger sisters.  
  
"Hey don't look at me!" Paige insisted, knowing she was going to be blamed for the obvious mistake.  
  
"I definitely didn't do it, either." Phoebe spoke up.  
  
"Okay, then why is Mom here?"  
  
"Could I please say something?" Patty asked, except it sounded more like a demand.  
  
Both Phoebe and Piper winced. Even though both had very few memories of their mother while she was alive, there was no mistaking the tone of her voice.  
  
"I don't know what you were trying to accomplish, but I was pulled here. By your spell." Patty said, "So why don't you just explain what you were doing."  
  
"There's this witch that we're trying to learn about." Paige began.  
  
"She unlike anyone I've ever met since we began this whole supernatural life." Phoebe added.  
  
"She hates us." Piper brought up, "which is kind of weird, because we're the Charmed Ones."  
  
"Tell me about her." Patty said, wondering why she had been called about this mysterious witch. "Her name is Peynn."  
  
"Not spelled like the writing implement." Paige interjected, interrupting her oldest sister.  
  
Piper shot her a glare for interrupting her, "She has brown hair, blue eyes. She's around Paige's age and between my height and Phoebe's."  
  
"That's it, you have no other information?" Patty asked, "What abilities does she have, are you sure she's a witch and not a warlock, or a demon?"  
  
"Positive, she helped us defeat the demon, Kells."  
  
"She has telekinesis, some really weird deflecting shield thingy." Paige said.  
  
"And she saved Paige's life." Phoebe added, just showing the confusion on her face the way they all felt about this woman and this situation. "She reminded me of.Prue."  
  
"What?" Piper asked in a whispering tone, a sign that she was about to get really mad.  
  
"Finally. I was beginning to think that I was the only one who got Piper rage!" Paige muttered under her breath, only to receive a look from Piper that told that she had heard.  
  
"It's not so much her attitude, nor is it really how she looks, although they have the same color eyes, it's more of an essence. I never knew Prue very well growing up, not until we received our powers. But there's just something about this woman that really reminds me of her." Phoebe said.  
  
"There's only one person I can think of that she could be.but I don't understand how it could be her." Patty said.  
  
"Who?" Piper asked, looking at her mother.  
  
"I only know her name by Peynnance Walkington. She and her family lived in Boston, when I knew them." Patty replied.  
  
"Weren't they friends of Daddy's?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"Yes." Patty replied.  
  
"I've never been to the East Coast. My family and I stayed in California all our lives, I know that for a fact." Paige replied.  
  
"She was born in the northern most part of this coast in this country, a cabin in the mountains." Patty evasively answered, and Piper began truly looking at her mother, she cocked her head and looked as if she was trying to figure something out.  
  
"So how do I know her?" Paige demanded.  
  
"She's your twin sister."  
  
"What!?" The Charmed Ones all exclaimed at the same time.  
  
"Originally both you and Peynnance were going to go to the Walkington's. They had tried to have children or adopt a child for many years, and I knew they were good people. When I found out I was pregnant, Sam, your father, Paige, and I talked about what to do for a long time. We knew that we could never, ever abort the pregnancy, it wasn't an option, what with Sam being an angel and the way we both respect life. Yet we also knew that we couldn't raise you. We didn't know what the Elders would do when they found out about the two of you, so we made the decision to give you up. But we didn't want you to go to someone who would know nothing about you, which is why we decided to give you to the Walkingtons." Patty told them.  
  
"What changed that?" Paige asked.  
  
"You weren't born." Patty responded, trying to get her daughters, especially Paige, to understand what had happened.  
  
"I wasn't born? Um, correct me if I'm wrong, I am here, right? I am alive, right?" Paige retorted, the more she spoke the louder her voice became, almost as if she couldn't believe her mother was actually doing this.  
  
"When I went into labor, I knew immediately something was wrong. This was my fourth pregnancy, after all. There was this pain that was unlike anything I'd ever felt before. My mother and Sam were with me in the cabin, one moment Sam was telling me that our first child was crowning, and the next you had orbed out of my womb and into your grandmother's arms. Within the next few minutes Peynnance was born. We never knew why or how you orbed. But we decided in that minute that you must have a tendency to lean towards magic." Patty explained.  
  
"What are you talking about? She's your daughter, of course she would have a tendency to lean towards magic." Phoebe mentioned, acting as if she was stating the obvious.  
  
"Yes, all of my daughters would have the genes to be magical and to have magical gifts, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they would have them. Just like I have brown eyes, means that my daughters all have the potential to have brown eyes, but Prue and Peynnance have blue eyes. We waited a few hours, when it became apparent that neither one of you were going to do anymore magic your grandmother bound your powers. We didn't think it would be a good idea for either one of you to be living in a non- magical family with magical gifts.  
  
"We took Paige to a church in San Francisco so we could try to make sure she was given to a family in the area of us in case she ever needed us. You see we can bind your gifts that your receive as a witch, but we could never bind your Whitelighter abilities. I don't really know if it's even possible, but since you two were the first children born of a Whitelighter, no one ever felt the need to find out if it was possible.  
  
"After that, Sam orbed Peynnance and I to Boston where I gave her to the Walkington's. That's the last time I saw or heard anything about her, both before and after my death. I chose not to look in on either of my children because of the danger from the Elders." Patty explained. She tried to watch her daughters for any reaction that they might have to her story.  
  
"Why didn't you tell us?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"At first, for both Paige and Peynnance, it was for their safety. We really had no idea what the Elders might do." Patty said.  
  
"What about after we got married?" Piper asked, looking around for Leo, who had remained silent the whole time. He moved closer to her, sensing she needed his support.  
  
"When we die, our powers don't die with us. They continue on, they help support the magic of those still living in our family, like the spell you used to defeat the Source. But we're still human. As much as magic is a part of our blood and a part of this family: I died because of magic. Sam died because of magic. Prue died because of magic. And your lives are in danger everyday because of magic. I wanted to protect Peynnance, I wanted to keep at least one of my daughters safe." Patty said, wishing that her daughters wouldn't be angry.  
  
"Ok, I'm still having a little problem with the binding of powers." Paige finally spoke, having remained quiet the entire time her mother was talking, "If our powers were bound, how come they're not now? I mean, did Grams just decide to unbind them one day? And if so, how come I never used witch magic until after I met Piper and Phoebe?"  
  
"Your powers would remain bound until your grandmother unbound them, or she died. After she died you'd have to be at the Book of Shadows before you regained your magic." Patty explained.  
  
"That's not right." Paige's voice was getting louder by the second, "She said she's had her powers almost her entire life."  
  
"That's not possible, she wouldn't have been able to receive her powers back until after your grandmother's death, which was nearly five years ago." Patty responded.  
  
"Well, somehow I doubt she'd lie to us about something like that. Unlike other people who seemed to be perpetual liars!" Paige shot at her. She then disappeared in a swirl of blue lights as she orbed out of the attic.  
  
"Come on, Phoebe why don't you and I see if we can find her?" Cole said grasping Phoebe's hand as she turned away from her mother.  
  
"I don't know if Paige is going to be able to work through this." Piper softly said as she leaned into Leo.  
  
"What do you mean?" Patty couldn't understand what Piper was getting at.  
  
"Ever since we met Paige, I think she's had this grudge, not something important or dangerous. Just, she never had what Prue, Phoebe and I had. She never had that bond, and we're trying to make that now, but she's not going to have that chance with Prue. And we come from such different backgrounds. Magic wasn't exactly a part of everyday life growing up, but it was always here: in the house, in you and Grams, even in part of us. I mean the game board with the 'Power of Three' quote, the rhyme Grams used to tell us about the 'boogeyman' that possessed Phoebe three years ago.  
  
"Paige doesn't have that. She was thrust into this with even less preparation that we had. She had that magic inside of her, but nothing else. The thing is my memories of you, and of Prue, tells me that she would be standing here telling me that I don't have to like it, and I don't have to understand it. But I need to move past it. And that's what I've done. I've moved past what you did and have tried, sometimes hard, to make that bond with Paige.  
  
"But you stole that from Paige, the same way you stole them from us. Peynn is her twin sister, but there is nothing between them other than the debt, whatever that is, and the hatred that she has for the three of us. Paige doesn't have any memories of you to combat this, so I don't know if she'll be able to work through it. And I don't know what that might mean for the Charmed Ones.  
  
"Before you go, two things. Are there any more long-lost relatives or siblings that are even remotely related to us?" Piper asked.  
  
"No. There is no one else." Patty said with a slight smile.  
  
"And, how's Prue?"  
  
"She doesn't like it, nor does she understand it, but she's trying to move beyond it."  
  
"That sounds like my big sister." Piper said chuckling with her mother before sighing and looking towards the stairs, "Now I need to go be the big sister."  
  
"Blessed Be." Patty said as she disappeared.  
  
"Blessed Be." Piper reiterated, wiping a tear away from her cheek as she started down the stairs. 


	6. Interlude

The Power of the Fifth  
  
Interlude 1  
  
The only color that could be seen was white. The ground, if it could be called that, was white and whispy. It was impossible to believe that no one could fall through it, however this obviously was a magical place. There were white columns in various places, however there were no walls, just more white.  
  
There were many figures throughout the area all wearing the same thing: A long white robe with an oversized white hood. While there were many standing around they were all watching the two figures walking straight ahead, they were heading for an area that few were ever allowed to enter.  
  
The two came to a large white double door before one grabbed the other.  
  
"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked, looking into her eyes, he tried to search for any doubts or fear that might be there, but as always all he saw was determination.  
  
"I have to do this. I don't have a choice. I need to do this for not only them, and me but for everyone. For the whole world. For magic to exist, there must be a balance. A balance between the good magic and the bad magic. Without me there, there will only be bad magic." She responded.  
  
"Okay." He sighed, "I just had to hear that one more time, that you were sure, and not scared."  
  
"I am sure, but I'm also scared. I know that this could go any multiple ways. And if I get my wish.I have to do this."  
  
"If They grant it you won't be coming back out here. Unless of course you die again. Which means I hope that I'll see you again, in a very very long time. But promise me something."  
  
"What?" She asked with an amused look on her face.  
  
"If They do grant it, promise me you'll live your life for more than your family. Find someone to love and have your own family with."  
  
"Of course, but it's going to be hard, I'll never stop loving you, Andy." She said giving him a long hug. She looked at him for a final second before she turned to the door. She raised her arm and put her hand, palm-out, towards the doors. They opened and she walked in the 'room', she looked around trying to see if there was anyone in there, she barely noticed the doors closing.  
  
"Your request has been considered." She looked around again, and yet she still didn't see anyone. However it sounded as if there were a hundred thousand voices speaking at once. She wanted to ask Them their answer, but she knew better than to rush Them.  
  
"We admit that a mistake was made. We admit that it must be rectified. But are you completely dedicated to this cause?"  
  
"Absolutely."  
  
"The outcome is not guaranteed to be the one that you wish."  
  
"I know this. But I also know that without me they will not succeed. And all magic will belong to those who are evil. The balance will be gone."  
  
"There is another issue. If you return now, the balance between them will be gone."  
  
"I know this. I know that Piper needed and still needs to learn how to be a leader. She needs to be completely at one with her magic, only then will she have the confidence and knowledge to do what is needed. Phoebe has become more responsible, she still needs to envision the future. And both Paige and Peynnance need to be bonded with themselves and the others more. But they are my sisters. And I am the leader of the Charmed Ones. I will do anything for them. This I need to do for them."  
  
"Our decision is made." She couldn't tell by Their statement if it was the decision she wanted.  
  
"Prudence Halliwell. You will be returned to that plane. However, your sisters need to continue without you until you are absolutely required. You will be placed far from your sisters with no memory. You will still have your magic, and it will continue to grow. You will regain your memory only by reading the spell from the Book of Shadows that returned your powers in the first place. There is no guarantee that you will succeed, or that you will even cross paths with your sisters again. Whether or not your return here, after your death, will depend on the way that you live your life. Blessed be Prudence."  
  
Prue gasped as a sensation went through her. She couldn't describe it, but all she saw was white. However, her eyes were closed. The next feeling she had was of someone shaking her.  
  
"Ma'am, are you alright?" The strong accident caused her to open her eyes and look at the man leaning over her. He had dark red hair and green eyes, he had a very concerned look on his face, which slightly concerned her; she didn't know him, did she?  
  
"Where's the truck that hit me?" She muttered under her breath and she started to get up, she smiled gratefully at the man when he helped her up.  
  
"Are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm just a little stiff." She finally started looking around; all she could see were very green rolling hills. "Where am I?"  
  
"20 kilometers outside of Glenshire." At her confused look he clarified, "Glenshire, Ireland."  
  
"How did I get to Ireland?" She began breathing in short gasps, obviously starting to panic, "Speaking of which, where was I before Ireland?"  
  
"Okay, let's just take this one step at a time. What's your name?" He asked.  
  
"Ummm, I don't know, the only thing I can remember is you waking me up nothing else." Suddenly her eyes focused at something behind him.  
  
He turned, just in time to see one of his neighbors trying to shoot a fox that was cutting between him and his neighbor. It took him nearly only a second, which seemed like forever, for him to realize that the bullet was about to miss the fox and head towards him.  
  
The next thing he knew, the woman's arm was in front of him, and the bullet had stopped in mid-air, almost directly next to his right kneecap. He looked up at her, only to notice that she was staring intently at the bullet, with a wave of her hand the bullet went directly down through the dirt in the ground.  
  
"What the hell did you just do?" He asked.  
  
"I'm not really sure, but it seems perfectly normal, for me.I think, it definitely doesn't feel weird." She bit her lip. "If magic allows it. Return what is mine. Let my memories return to my mind."  
  
"What did you do now?" He asked, watching her. His first impression was to ask how it was he had found her, and what was wrong with her. But at the same time, he felt that there was something special about this woman, and he couldn't believe how lucky it was that he had found her. And maybe his first inclination that something was wrong with her was in fact incorrect. He had come to that conclusion in just a matter of seconds from his original thoughts about her.  
  
"A spell, to try and return my memories, but it didn't work." She explained, but her eyes were starting to tear up, betraying the fact that she wasn't as calm as her voice led him to believe.  
  
"You don't remember anything?"  
  
"Prudence. My name is Prudence, but that's it."  
  
"Well, Prudence, it's nice to meet you. My name's Christopher. My mother is always telling me to bring home a nice girl to dinner. So why don't you come with me, and we can figure this out. And if not, you'll get a great dinner, I promise." Christopher said with a small smile, hoping to get her to relax a little.  
  
"Well, I can't think of anything else, and I am hungry, it feels almost like I haven't eaten in a year, and I'm really tired."  
  
"Okay, let's go. Don't worry, it'll be okay." Christopher told her, as he started walking with her to his home. 


	7. Knowledge

Chapter 6  
  
Once Piper and Leo arrived on the first floor she immediately headed for the sunroom where she could hear her sisters talking. As they were about to enter the room Leo pulled on Piper's arm, pulling her away from the room.  
  
"Go. Besides, I think this may be a 'sisters only' moment. And probably for a while, it doesn't look like Cole's in there." Piper looked up into his face, knowing that he was being called.  
  
"I'll be back when I can," Leo bent down and gave her a kiss as he orbed out of the house.  
  
"Hey, how you doing?" Piper asked Paige as she walked into the sunroom.  
  
"Okay. Phoebe's been trying to get me to look at the bright side of things." Paige answered, sighing.  
  
"Yeah. I told her that even though she didn't get a chance to know her and grow up with her, that she has that opportunity now, and she should take it." Phoebe told Piper.  
  
"I agree." Piper mentioned.  
  
"I'm tired, all this spell making, meeting my sister, talking with my mother, it's a little exhausting. I'm gonna head on up to bed." Paige told her older sisters and she stood up.  
  
"Don't you want to find her?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"Yes. But, I also want to sleep, and I don't think trying to find her now, when I'm still upset and tired is going to help our relationship out, at all." Paige said, "I'll see you guys in the morning, and I'll figure out what to do after I get some sleep."  
  
"Hey," Piper said, catching Paige's arm, "Don't forget, you have more than one sister, we'll be there in the morning helping you."  
  
"Absolutely." Phoebe said, giving Paige a hug.  
  
"Thanks." Paige said, giving a small smile and she walked out of the room.  
  
"I'm gonna go up and see how Cole's doing." Phoebe said, giving her older sister a hug and then leaving the room.  
  
"You know, I really preferred being the middle sister, compared to the oldest." Piper muttered, deciding she would head to bed as well.  
  
  
  
Across town.  
  
After he had calmed down, Michael tried to get ready for when Peynn would return. He went into their small closet and got out her favorite pair of pajamas. He placed them on the counter in the bathroom and made sure that the laundry basket wasn't full. He lit several of her favorite scented candles and went back to the main room of their small apartment. He sat on the bed and waited for her to return.  
  
At the Manor.  
  
"Where's breakfast?" Paige asked, as she looked around the kitchen and noticed there wasn't anything out, nor was there anyone but her sisters there. "And where's Cole and Leo?"  
  
"Up there." Piper murmured as she kept reading her paper.  
  
"No clue." Phoebe answered while pouring a cup of coffee.  
  
"And breakfast?" Paige asked again.  
  
"You lived by yourself for how long? And now you suddenly need someone else to make breakfast for you? I only do that when we're celebrating." Piper replied.  
  
"Fine, I guess I'll just have coffee." Paige replied. After she had finished getting her coffee ready she looked back and forth between her sisters, watching as neither one of them seemed very anxious to get started on looking for their sister. "So, how do we go about finding Peynn? What spell do we use?"  
  
"We could just wait for her to come back, we know she's going to." Piper replied.  
  
"I'd really rather not, it's really important that we find her, and soon, I want to know all about her." Paige replied, "so, what spell?"  
  
"You know, we don't always need to use magic for things." Phoebe told her. "Sometimes the best way to go about things is the mortal way."  
  
"Phoebe's right. Always using magic for everything usually ends up leading to personal gain." Piper mentioned.  
  
"So how are we going to find her?" Paige asked, exasperation evident in her voice.  
  
"Information, yes I need a listing for someone in San Francisco. Walkington, Peynnance." Phoebe said, talking into the telephone, "No listings, okay, could you try the same first name with the last name of Halliwell."  
  
"Halliwell?" Paige asked.  
  
"Well, there's no listing for a Walkington, and she does know where we live and what our last name is.so I thought I'd try." Phoebe mentioned grabbing a piece of paper and a pen. "Yes, 555-8887. Thank you."  
  
"Phone." Paige demanded. The phone then disappeared from Phoebe's hand and reappeared in Paige's. She dialed the number, and then with a frown hung up.  
  
"What's wrong?" Piper asked her.  
  
"The operator said that the number had been disconnected." Paige said.  
  
"I'll be right back, I'll go look it up on the Internet and see if we can get an address." Phoebe said as she walked out of the kitchen.  
  
A few seconds later both Piper and Paige could hear Phoebe calling to them, "I got it, let's get a move on!"  
  
"You know, there's just times I'm not sure that I'm glad I found my sisters." Paige mentioned as she tried to clear her head of Phoebe's yelling.  
  
"I know what you mean." Piper said with a smile. They walked out of the manor wondering what this encounter would mean for them.  
  
Across town.  
  
Michael continued sitting on the bed, when he finally saw blue lights coming from underneath the closed door of the bathroom he sighed with relief. He could hear the shower turn on, and a few minutes later Peynn orbed onto the bed, curled up, nearly in the fetal position.  
  
"Are you okay?" he asked looking down on her.  
  
"Peachy keen." Peynn sarcastically replied.  
  
"You're not hurt, are you?"  
  
"No, I'm fine. I left the money on the sink, why don't you go pay the rent before the landlord comes up here and kicks us out." Peynn told him quietly, closing her eyes as if she were asleep.  
  
"Sleep well," he murmured, but he knew she wouldn't be sleeping for a while. He walked into the bathroom and grabbed the wad of money Peynn had left there. Michael counted it quickly and then put most of it in the cabinet beneath the sink, he grabbed his keys and left the apartment quickly. The quicker he left, the sooner he'd be able to come back and make sure that Peynn really was okay.  
  
A loud knock awoke Peynn in what seemed like only a few moments. She looked at Michael's watch, which was what they used for an alarm clock and noticed that it was nearly ten in the morning. She had been sleeping for almost six hours. "So why does it feel more like six minutes?" she muttered to herself, making her way to the door.  
  
She opened it the same way she always did, without checking to see who was on the other side. Michael was constantly telling her that she was being risky and unsafe. She had decided long ago that if there was something on the other side of the door that would prove Michael right, well, she would be able to defend herself, even using the small amount of magic that she could use without blinding pain, or passing out.  
  
"Great, just who I wanted to see." Peynn muttered as she walked away from the door. She left it open, knowing that the Charmed Ones would follow her into the apartment.  
  
"Wow, this is a really.um.unique place you've got here." Paige mentioned. She looked round, the carpet was dingy, the refrigerator sounded as it were about to die, the wallpaper was peeling, and yellowed with age. And there were water spots over a large part of the ceiling.  
  
"Cut the crap. What are you doing here?" Peynn demanded.  
  
Paige took a step forward, and at the same moment Peynn stepped back. "We know you're our sister."  
  
"Yeah, give the girl a prize. How about.get the hell out of my apartment." Peynn ordered, unwavering at the look of hurt that was showing in Paige's eyes.  
  
"Okay. Who the hell do you think you are, that you get to talk to my little sister that way?" Phoebe yelled back.  
  
"No one. I just happen to not be impressed by the 'oh so wonderful Charmed Ones'. Excuse me I need to get dressed. When I get out, be gone." With that Peynn walked into the bathroom and slammed the door shut.  
  
"Great, let's go." Phoebe said, as she began to walk out of the apartment.  
  
"No. We came here to get answers about her, and that's what we're going to do, so what if she hates us." Piper said. As Piper was their leader, Phoebe was required, by loyalty to her older sister alone, to stay there.  
  
"Peynn, why was the door unlocked?" Michael asked as he walked in, carrying about five bags of groceries, and stopping when he saw three women he had never seen before just standing in his small apartment.  
  
"Oh, you're still here." Peynn unhappily sighed as she walked out of the bathroom, dressed in a white t-shirt and a pair of very old faded blue jeans. "Michael, meet Time-freezer, future seer, and telekinesis Whitelighter girl."  
  
"You know, we do have names." Paige retorted to her.  
  
"Oh, yeah. I don't care." With that Peynn turned to Michael, "Good, you got some food, do me a favor and throw away the cheese that's in the fridge, I think it's moldy. I'm outta here. There's a place downtown where some demons and warlocks are gathering together and pulling powers out of young witches. I'm going to go stop it."  
  
"Okay be careful." Michael told her. She then orbed out of the apartment.  
  
"Go after her Paige." Phoebe told her.  
  
"And exactly how am I going to do that? I have no idea where she went, other than 'downtown'" Paige said making a quotation symbol with her hands, "Which is a very large area."  
  
"She didn't mean downtown, San Francisco. The only place she calls downtown is New York City." Michael told them as they all turned and gave him incredulous stares.  
  
"Okay, I'm still having trouble orbing, on the first try, across town. There's no way I can go across the country, even if I had a clue as to where she was." Paige insisted.  
  
"Paige, a few years ago I was mugged. When I had been missing for five hours Peynn orbed to my location. When I asked her how she knew where I was, cause I was mostly unconscious and really unable to move. She told me that she just concentrated on my essence, she said, her friendship with me, and her knowing me. Maybe you could do that." Michael suggested.  
  
"Okay, one, we don't have a friendship, two I barely know her, and three she hates me. Plus I think the feeling is going to be mutual very soon." Paige replied.  
  
"Right, but you do share the same genetics, and you were womb together, and you do know a little about her essence." Phoebe reminded her.  
  
"Paige, the only way to get a relationship with Peynn is to keep chasing after it, until you're forcing it down her throat. Only then will you get her to respond. And trust me, because I've been through it. Once you do, you will never regret it." Michael told her.  
  
"Besides, magic has a reason. We wouldn't have been brought together if there weren't a purpose, a magical purpose. Go for it." Phoebe told her.  
  
"Paige," Piper murmured, it the way she had that elongated her name, "Close your eyes. Concentrate on the image of Peynn in your mind. Her height, the color of her eyes, the length of her hair. What does her voice sound like? Your memory of the first time you saw her, before she saw us. And then go back even further. Go back to a time when nothing in the world existed, but you and your sister. When she was the only person the only thing in your world. You were closer to her than you have been to anyone else in your whole life. Now, while concentrating on her, begin to orb, and orb to her."  
  
In a matter of seconds Paige was gone, leaving Piper, Phoebe, and Michael alone together in the apartment.  
  
"So, are you going to tell us about our youngest sister?" Phoebe asked, smiling at him. 


	8. Introductions?

The Power of the Fifth  
  
Part 7  
  
"It seems to me like the three of you are doing a really good job finding out stuff by yourselves, what do you need me for?" Michael asked, as he continued to put the groceries away. He stopped momentarily as he sniffed the remaining cheese in the fridge and tossed it in the garbage can.  
  
"Well, it seems that doing it our way, is also the hard way. It would probably take about a thousand times less for you to tell us." Piper said, mimicking Phoebe's smile.  
  
"Look, I'll tell you a few things, but not everything. Something's only she can tell you." Michael explained. "What do you want to know?"  
  
"Why did she save Paige's life?"  
  
"I only know what you probably do, that she says she owed her some sort of debt." Michael replied, noting the exasperation on both Piper and Phoebe's faces.  
  
"Okay. Well, why does she act the way she acts?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"She acts like she hates everything and everyone. Why is that?" Piper added.  
  
"Look, she had a very difficult time growing up. I don't know all of it.but magic is difficult for her. From what she's mentioned, it's hard for her to master any sort of power. Before she does that anytime she uses it there's usually pain and unconsciousness. Some things are virtually impossible for her to do without those consequences, others she can do as easy and breathing. She's said that even in her earliest memories she remembers using magic." Michael hated telling Peynn's sisters about this, feeling as if he were betraying her trust, but he also knew that Peynn needed them.  
  
"She did say that she been practicing magic her whole life." Phoebe said.  
  
"Which is still impossible, because Grams' bound her powers, and we know from experience that that spell is foolproof, until her death, at least." Piper commented.  
  
"The family that adopted her didn't react well to the magic. I think that's one of the reasons why she keeps her guard up like that all the time. She had no love growing up. They were very cruel to her, sent her away, and I think she was caught between wanting to practice her magic and wanting to get rid of it, for obvious reasons. Like I told Paige, she has these walls around her that are virtually impenetrable. But she's the most loyal, good person I know. She would give up her soul to save even one innocent. And she'd give her life a thousand times to save the one of someone she loves." Michael concluded.  
  
"She hates us!" Phoebe muttered.  
  
"She doesn't hate you, she just doesn't know how to love you. I don't know, I think she's trying to protect herself. With the exception of me, she's been rejected by anyone who could have possibly loved her. Including her family, both biological and legal." Michael mentioned.  
  
"Our mother didn't reject her, she just couldn't raise her, and it was too dangerous." Phoebe interjected.  
  
"Well, she doesn't see it that way. Paige was dropped off at a church and then given to a family who didn't reject her. She was given specifically to the Walkingtons who dropped her the first chance they could." He explained, "I know that her parents couldn't have known anything about the Walkingtons, or the fact that they would react to Peynn the way they did, but she doesn't see it that way."  
  
"The thing is, she should never have had her powers in the first place, they were bound, and no one can explain why they became unbound." Piper told him. "Do you know where we live?"  
  
"Yeah," Michael replied.  
  
"Feel free to stop by whenever, we want to get to know both of you, but I think it's time we went home and waited for Paige to return. Thank you." Piper told him, genuinely appreciative of his cooperation in helping them to get to know their newest sister.  
  
Across the country.  
  
"Are you going to keep following me for the rest of my life?" Peynn asked angrily as she and Paige exited the warehouse where the demons had been working.  
  
"Yes. At least until I get the answers to my questions." Paige replied.  
  
Peynn shook her head at that statement and then looked at Paige for a second. "Why did you follow me here? I didn't need your help."  
  
"No, but I wanted to give it, besides, you could disappear and then I would never see you again. And I want and need to know who you are, the kind of person you are." Paige answered.  
  
"Wanna see what I can do?" Peynn asked, a slight smile on her face and a glint in her eyes.  
  
"Okaaay."  
  
Paige watched intently as she saw Peynn cup her two hands together. At first Paige couldn't figure out what she was doing, but then she saw a glow emanating from Peynn's hands, until the glow grew and Paige realized it was a ball of fire it grew and grew until Peynn threw it towards the warehouse they had just exited then with a few motions of her hands the fire began spreading quicker than Paige thought was possible, however it stayed solely on the building Peynn had intended for it to go, until within a few minutes not only had the entire building been burnt to the ground, but the fire was out.  
  
"How did you do that?"  
  
"That's my power, well the first one I ever had. I can make it shoot out of my hand or just get an object to burst on fire. But what I just did, throwing the fireball to the building and then moving it around is the quickest way that I can get something to burn and the best way that I can control it and extinguish it when I'm done." Peynn explained.  
  
"Why did you do that, someone could have gotten hurt!" Paige exclaimed, not understanding how anyone could be so careless with others' lives.  
  
"No one would have gotten hurt, there's no one in the building, and I had complete control over the fire, plus, if someone had gotten hurt, we both could have healed them."  
  
"Okay, maybe you've got that healing thing under control, but I've done it like twice, and never by myself."  
  
"Well I'm here, you wouldn't be by yourself." Peynn calmly stated, and suddenly Paige realized she was right. Peynn may have taken a considerable risk, but they always did when they chose to vanquish demons. "Besides, this way we've been able to fully get rid of anything that might have been left by the demons so we won't be exposed, witches overall, I mean."  
  
"That is a very cool thing, how long have you been able to do it?" Paige asked, finding this an opportunity to learn more about her younger sister than she had had in the last couple of days.  
  
"I've been able to do it for as long as I can remember. Just like yours, my powers are attached to my emotions, so especially when I was younger, I used to set everything on fire. Because when we're younger our emotions are generally very happy or very upset, there's no in-between."  
  
"Ooo." Paige chuckled, "I bet you set everything in sight on fire."  
  
"Yeah, pretty much." Peynn responded with a little laughing of her own.  
  
"That must have been really hard on your parents."  
  
Suddenly Peynn's eyes turned cold as she stopped laughing. Paige looked at her, trying to figure out what had changed Peynn's mood so quickly when Peynn quietly responded in an angry voice, "I don't have any parents."  
  
For nearly a second the two stood like this until Paige saw Peynn begin to orb, before Paige had a second to react, she was suddenly orbing, though she had no control over the orb, or where she was headed, but she could still see Peynn orbing in front of her. Within seconds Paige could see the Manor coming into view, and Peynn appearing in the attic, as Peynn did this, Paige was able to gain control over the orb and orbed into the kitchen where her two older sisters were standing.  
  
"Paige, what happened?" Piper asked, taking notice of her younger sister's shocked expression.  
  
"What the hell was that?" Paige exclaimed. She stared at her older sisters for a second before she ran out of the room.  
  
Piper and Phoebe looked at each other for a moment, unsure of what was going on, before Phoebe yelled at Piper. "Go!" The two then quickly followed Paige into the attic.  
  
"I don't know." Peynn said as Piper and Phoebe walked into the attic. "I just orbed, I wasn't even touching you, so I have no idea how I could have forced you to orb."  
  
"Well, you did. And it wasn't you orbing me, it was me." Paige stopped as she noticed Piper and Phoebe exchanging weird glances, "I don't know how to explain it. I just know that when I orb, and when others orb me, it feels different. Peynn orbed, but I orbed at the same time. I had no control over it, and I didn't even want to orb. Once Peynn stopped it, I was finally able to control it."  
  
"I don't know. Do you want me to repeat it?" Peynn yelled back, she was just as confused at Paige, and the fact that Paige had started yelling at her the second she had entered the attic didn't make Peynn too cooperative in reaching the understanding about what was happening. "All I did was orb. I wanted to check the book on one of the demons that I know was missing from that warehouse. I didn't intentionally force you to orb, in fact, I was trying to get away from you."  
  
"Yeah? Well you didn't!" Paige retorted.  
  
"I noticed that! But thank you for pointing out the obvious. Is that your power?" Peynn uttered coolly.  
  
"That's it! Both of you," Piper yelled, cutting between the two and putter her hands out, "stop fighting! Maybe if we talk in a calm manner we can figure some things out."  
  
"Yeah, like what did you mean when you owed Paige your life?" Phoebe brought up.  
  
"Look, I'm not a doctor, so I can't explain anything medically, but. While Paige was crowning, I started to die. I don't know, I don't know if I started breathing, or if I was suffocating, or what was going on. All I know is that I was dieing. Paige orbed, and that let me be born about seven or eight minutes sooner than if she had been born naturally. If I had been born any later than I was, I would have died. I don't know why you orbed, I mean we were babies, we may have been magical, but we don't exactly have super cognitive abilities, I don't know why you did what you did. For all my life has been, I probably would have been better off dead. But I did repay you when Kells was about to kill you." Peynn explained.  
  
"Don't say that. Do you really think you would have been better off dead?" Paige just didn't understand why Peynn would say that. "What about those innocents you've saved. They would all be dead if it weren't for you."  
  
"Someone else would have saved them. You know we're not the only witches who go around saving innocents. If they were meant to live, they would have been saved if I were alive or not."  
  
"No. Paige is right. You were saved by her for a reason. And more importantly, magic saved you. Everything magical has a purpose, a reason. There was a magical reason you were supposed to live. And maybe we know you now because there's a magical reason for all four of us to be here, together." Phoebe spoke up, supporting Paige's opinion.  
  
"There aren't four Charmed Ones." Peynn countered.  
  
"No, but there are four witches, and there are four sisters. Who cares if you're a Charmed One or not? Who care if you're a witch? You're our sister. Nothing else matters, you're here, and we want you in our life. I want you in my life." Paige replied.  
  
"You don't know. You don't understand." Peynn exclaimed, not understanding why they couldn't understand what she had been saying.  
  
"So why don't you explain it to us. If we're that dumb that we can't figure it out, maybe you need to spell it out for us." Piper stated.  
  
"Look, I do what I do because it's the only thing I can do. I can't work, and I can't really control the magic. If I'm lucky I can make it work for me, but there's many times I can't. You don't need a witch by you that can't control her magic. It'll get you dead quick." Peynn replied.  
  
"So?" Paige questioned. "I thought you said that you didn't care what happened to us?"  
  
"I don't!"  
  
"Then what do you care if we get dead?" Piper asked.  
  
"You're the Charmed Ones. That may not matter to me, but you're important. I mean, you've beaten the Source, and you're on to bigger and better magical things." Peynn stated.  
  
"Mom didn't reject you. She didn't know the Walkingtons were going to do what they did. If she had, she never would have left you there." Phoebe said, wanting to see what Peynn's reaction would be.  
  
"You don't know anything about that!" Peynn yelled.  
  
"Because you won't talk to us! If you would, then maybe we would know." Piper yelled back.  
  
"Candles-circle!" Paige yelled, "Matches-strike box-light candles."  
  
Her three sisters watched as magically the candles appeared out of their storage places and arranged in a circle. Then Paige used the matches to light the candles, all without moving from her spot.  
  
"Hear these words. Hear my cry, spirit from the other side. Come to me I summon the. Cross now the Great Divide." Paige said, she waited a few seconds until the spirit appeared in front of them, "Peynn, meet our mother."  
  
Peynn didn't even look at the woman standing there. She stood and stared at Paige for a moment before she began to orb. As she did she yelled, "No!!!" The Charmed Ones were nearly thrown back from the force of her yell; while it was simply words, they was full of her magical power.  
  
"Wow, that girl has some anger." Phoebe commented. 


	9. The Truth?

It's taken me a lot longer to get this story updated than I thought it would. I'm very sorry, and regardless of how it might appear, I am planning on continuing and finishing this story. Unfortunately I took on a full-time job, in addition to my part-time one, a class, and had a minor medical family situation this summer. When I arrived back at school, I found that while I have the bigger scenes played out in my head, the transitional ones and smaller ones, I had no idea how to write. And I had a slight writer's block. So please, bear with me as I continue to write this story, and of course, let me know how I am doing, and if you like it, and I will get parts out as fast as I can. But please, let me know if you want me to continue. I won't if you guys don't like it.  
  
The Power of the Fifth  
  
Chapter 8  
  
"So which one of us is going to start it?" Phoebe asked as she began stirring the coffee her older sister always prepared in the morning.  
  
"Start what?" Piper asked in the midst of preparing breakfast for Leo and herself.  
  
"You know The Conversation." Phoebe said, altering her voice so it sounded ominous when she mentioned the conversation.  
  
"Phoebe, I'm tired, let's not place this game. What are you talking about?"  
  
"The same conversation that we had last week, and the week before, and the week before, and every week before that since this began."  
  
"The same conversation where we always end at an impasse because we've done everything that we possibly could."  
  
"Not everything. There are still some magical things that could be done-"  
  
"Phoebe! We have done several magical things, binding them in the same room, which did nothing but force them in each other's company, and they both read until the spell ran out. Which got us in big trouble, because then you and I had to fight that demon all by ourselves. Then we tried magically forcing them to talk, and all they talked about was fashions, although they did disagree at that point."  
  
"Oooh, and that time they nearly talked the warlock to death." Phoebe interrupted.  
  
"There isn't any other magic we could use that wouldn't blatantly go against the 'no personal gain' clause. And I still don't think it's fair to go behind Paige's back and try to smooth things over with Peynn ourselves." Piper finished. Phoebe was right; they had had this conversation so many times that they no longer needed to have it. They both knew the other's arguments extremely well.  
  
"Well, I came up with another one."  
  
"Phoebe."  
  
"And it's not really going against the 'no personal gain' clause, because Paige and Peynn are now starting to get in the way of the innocents we're trying to save, because they can't stop arguing. It's been over two months, we have to do something." Phoebe responded. "And I can see how tired you are, I've never seen you this tired before, you okay?"  
  
"Yeah, just get on with the plan."  
  
"Okay, truth spell." Phoebe said, with a satisfied grin on her face.  
  
"That's it?"  
  
"That's all we need. We get Leo to go get Peynn, say the spell, one of us can start with the questions, and by the time the spell is over, voila, no more argument."  
  
"Phoebe," Piper sighed, "how are we going to keep them in the room to keep talking?"  
  
"Don't you remember how long it took us to figure out that Prue had done something, you know when she first cast that spell after we became witches? By the time they figure it out, hopefully they'll be friends."  
  
"Fine, you say the spell, but if it backfires, I reserve the right to "I told you so" you, and it's the end of the magical ways in trying to get them to talk."  
  
"Okay, now all we need to do is get Leo to go get her." Phoebe finished with their plan.  
  
"Leo to go get who?" Leo asked as he entered the kitchen.  
  
"Can you go get Peynn and bring her to the attic? We're going to try operation: reunite sisters, take 28." Phoebe asked him, giving him her begging look.  
  
"Phoebe, you know that doesn't work on me." Leo looked to his wife for confirmation, and after her nod, he orbed out of the manor.  
  
"Okay, so I've got all the stuff sitting in the sunroom, let's go." Phoebe said, pulling her older sister behind her.  
  
They set it up while waiting for Leo to get back. And when he appeared, Piper sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time that day.  
  
"Okay, Peynn's upstairs looking through the Book of Shadows, and Paige is in the bathroom, so hurry up." Leo told them as he orbed into the sunroom, an amused expression on his face.  
  
"You, cut it out." Piper ordered, pointing her finger at him, showing she wasn't enjoying his obvious amusement.  
  
Phoebe lit the candle, while Leo orbed back out of the Manor, and then began speaking, "For those who want the truth revealed. Open their hearts and secrets unseal. From now until it's now again. From now in which the memories end. For those who are now in this house, only truth will be heard from their mouths."  
  
The candle she had just lit blew out. "Did it work?"  
  
"I don't know, did it?" Piper responded.  
  
"I don't know. What do you think of this shirt?" Phoebe asked. The shirt she was wearing was tight leather; it clung to her like a second skin. And the neckline was very, very low.  
  
"Skanky ho say anything to you?" Piper replied.  
  
"Piper, do you always think that stuff about the way I dress?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"Most of the time. Just because you've got it, doesn't mean you have to flaunt it, there's no law, you know." Piper answered.  
  
"You have very mean thoughts." Phoebe retorted. "Now, let's go get Paige upstairs and get our sisters together. I really don't want to be dealing with this at my wedding."  
  
"You two haven't even set a date yet."  
  
"Yeah, but that's because I want all my sisters in my wedding." Phoebe answered.  
  
"Paige, attic!" Piper yelled as they walked past the floor of the Manor that had the bedrooms on it.  
  
"On my way." Paige yelled.  
  
Piper and Phoebe walked into the attic just as Paige finished orbing in.  
  
"Okay, it's really not fair that she doesn't need to take the stairs anymore." Phoebe muttered to Piper.  
  
"So what demon are we after this time?" Peynn asked.  
  
"Peynn, why do hate us so much?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"I don't hate you, you're my sisters." Peynn replied. "In fact, I have a lot of respect for all of you."  
  
"Then why do you act like you hate us?" Piper asked.  
  
"It's easier to act like I hate you, then to let myself get close, and have you abandon me." Peynn responded. As her conversation with Paige progressed she walked closer to the entrance to the attic, where Paige was standing, and further from the Book of Shadows. Piper and Phoebe were standing off to the right, moving closer to the Book of Shadows as they tried to stay out of their younger sisters' ways. They didn't want to interrupt the talking that was finally happening.  
  
"We're not going to abandon you." Paige told her.  
  
"Paige everyone has, my mother."  
  
"Our mother didn't abandon you, any more than she did me. In fact, she gave you to a family she knew. She just dropped me off at a church." Paige retorted.  
  
"Please. Look at your life, everyone's happy. I'm a whore for god's sake!"  
  
"Interesting career choice, what does that have to do with not getting close to us?" Paige yelled back.  
  
"When you've got strangers rutting their bodies inside you, you build walls. When your parents send you away to school year-round until you turn eighteen, you build walls, when they force you out at 12:01 midnight on your eighteenth birthday you."  
  
".Build walls, we get it already. So get over yourself, we're not going to do anything to hurt you. We're family, we-"  
  
"God, don't you get it, Paige? Everyone who was supposed to care and love me, EVERYONE couldn't stand me. At the school where I grew up, the teachers and caregivers had a strict policy about never showing more attention to one student over any other. They would talk to you for no more than five minutes a day unless it was in relation to school work, and then they were given an extra five minutes, all the employees were given added bonuses and incentives if they were able to prove that another employee was going over their allotted time with each student. I received more love from those teachers, even with those restrictions, and the fact that they never actually showed any, than I ever did from any of the Walkingtons.  
  
"My biological mother gave me to those people. Obviously there's something."  
  
"So what, would you rather I have grown up there, and you could have grown up with my parents. I can't change the past, or let us switch places, it's not possible!" Paige interrupted.  
  
"Well, well, well, what do we have here? The Charmed Ones arguing?" Everyone in the room just stared at the demon that had just shimmered into the room.  
  
"No!" Paige yelled back, "she's not a Charmed One!"  
  
"Either way, I'm still going to kill all of you, and get your powers!" The demon was over six feet tall, with piercing blue eyes and short dark hair. He instantly shot a power blast towards phoebe and Piper. Piper was able to dodge it, but Phoebe levitated over it and then came back down.  
  
"Why didn't you freeze it?" Phoebe asks as she ran over to Piper.  
  
"Too tired." Piper yelled back as she ran for the Book of Shadows. The Book was only two or three steps away, but when a Demon was in the room it seemed more like a hundred miles. She never even saw the blast heading towards her.  
  
"Piper, no!" Phoebe yelled out. 


End file.
